Confessions. Ryne Douglas Pearson. 2010. I got sucked in again by reviews that claimed this was a great Catholic book. Not quite Kindle Trash but close. Critics on Amazon claimed it was “too Catholic,” but I thought that was the best part. A priest is called to hear the confession of a dying thug. While listening to the confession the priest realizes this man must have participated in the murder of his sister several years ago. It took a great leap of logic to reach that conclusion as far as I am concerned. Anyway, the priest lets the man die without absolving him. This and the seal of confession is where all the Catholic stuff comes in. The priest agonizes over this most of the novel, but that does not stop him from trying to find out who and why his sister was murdered. There are a few twists in the plot and a little suspense, and the murderer was a surprise, but I realized there was so little character development that I didn’t care. Pearson writes screen plays, and this might make a good Lifeline movie. ( )

I'd give this a 3.5 stars. It was a great story about a priest who is called in the middle of the night to hear a dying man's confession, only to find out the man is confessing to killing a woman 5 years ago, and that woman was the priest's sister! Since the confession is confidential, the priest does his own investigation / verification of what he has heard.

A couple times, the author gave me a whole lot of story (which I skimmed over). But when all is said and done, it was a well put together mystery.

PLUS, it was one of Kindle's freebies! Good deal! ( )

The pacing of the book is perfect. There was never a time where I felt it dragged or there was a lull. I always wanted to get to the next page, read the next chapter, find out what was going to happen. The characters were ones you wanted to learn more about. They drew you into the story and made you want to know where they were going. Especially the main character, the priest I mentioned, Michael Jerome (Father Jerome to most people.)

Michael was so sympathetic because he behaved like a real human being. One of the things I loved the most about this book was Pearson’s ability to capture the absolute humanness of a priest. Any priest will tell you they are not infallible. They are human. They are very human, having the same desires, doubts, and concerns that everyone else has. They just have a calling that changes the way they can react to many of those desires or doubts. Father Jerome struggles with his ability to remain faithful. Starting with a chance meeting with a man who took part in his sister’s murder, and moving through the carefully woven tapestry of lies that led up to the cover-up, Michael is intensely human and real.

Throughout the book, Michael tries to solve his sister’s murder. Meanwhile he tries to remain strong for his father who must take care of an ailing wife. Alzheimer’s has destroyed all but the strongest of her memories. Once a loving, adoring mother, she is now paranoid, frightened, and can’t even recognize her only remaining child. When Michael does try to talk to her, she fearfully asks her husband who the stranger is. Then she proceeds to tell Michael about her wonderful, beautiful daughter.

This novel is well-paced, intriguing, and heart-wrenching. The characters will suck you in and make you want to know more. The turns this story takes makes it a page-turner from start to finish. ( )

Father Michael Jerome is awoken from a restless sleep, dreaming again of when he and his sister were kids, spending the summer at the modest cabin at the lake that their parents own. A bittersweet dream, because his sister is now dead, shot in a grocery store holdup some five years ago. But the phone is ringing and duty calls, his duty as a chaplain of the Chicago Police Department. A policeman has been shot.

The world of cops is not new to Michael. He personally knows the policeman that has been shot but then he knows a lot of cops. His dad is retired from the force and these people, including the injured policeman's dad, were his friends. Michael arrives at the hospital to find that, happily, the injury to the policeman is not as bad as first thought and that he will be fine. The same can not be said of the criminal who shot him. Taking a bullet to the head, he is not expected to live long and Father Jerome is called to his bedside where the man begs the priest to here his confession and offer him absolution. But when Michael hears what the man says in his ramblings, he is so shocked that he can not respond. It is not the shooting tonight that the man confesses, but the killing of a young woman some five years ago in a grocery store...Father Mike's sister.
It seems it was not a holdup at all, but a "hit".
And in pursuing the truth of what happened that night, what Father Mike's believes he knew about his sister and so much of what he has built his life on, will be shaken to it's very foundation.

This was a good book, a compelling read, but not without some flaws, flaws that seem to bother me more now, some days after I read it, than when I was reading the book. So we will get them out of the way first.
Sometime small mistakes of an author just jump out and annoy me to no end. I am a Catholic. I assume Mr. Douglas is not..or was just a bit careless in his "priest stuff". A priest 'says' Mass, or celebrates Mass, he does not 'do' Mass. Never heard it said. And then most Catholics, unless they are trying to make some sort of point, capitalize the word Mass...it is not 'mass'. When a priest exits the church from the altar at the end of Mass, the dismissal, he would be, as the celebrant, always the last in the procession, after the altar server and readers or deacons, not in the front as the author writes it. OK, those mistakes, little mistakes, just drive me nuts. Authors, get an expert to read the book before it is publish and find these things..please.

There is the whole 'seal of the confessional' thing. For those of you who are not familiar with Catholic beliefs, let me explain. What you tell a priest in the sacrament of confession is secret. Big time secret. Go to prison secret, go to your death secret...and there are priests throughout history who have in fact been killed rather than reveal what someone told them in a confession. Yes, it is that serious, that sacred an obligation. Yes, there may be a priest or two who has broken that obligation but it is rare, very rare. But poor Father Mike spills the beans, and to the most unsuitable person IMHO, in his journey to solve the mystery of his sister's death, so quickly, so easily, that my head was spinning.
Really Mike..just like that? And worse, he is not seemingly that upset about it. But then honestly, Father Mike does not seem like a very spiritual man. Maybe he should have been a cop like his dad.
Then there was the ending. The epilogue as it were, not the end of the mystery, which was a shocking surprise. Father Mike's world has been shaken to the core. I get that. But how he handles it is so cliche, so 'easy', that I was disappointed. Ok, enough of my 'issues'. I am sorry. Things like that just drive me nuts.

Now, the good and a great deal of good there is. First of all, Mr. Pearson is a lovely writer. Sometimes his prose is just so beautiful that it really makes this book rise above a common thriller. Very nice.
The characters are all very good, very believable and Father Mike is very easy to identify with as his world starts to crumble. Even when I found him a bit annoying, he is believable. And the story..the story is very good. So good that I read the book straight through in one day because I just had to know what happened. There is one aspect of the mystery that I guessed but an ending that I did not see coming. Gosh. Very good and, when explained, believable.
As I said, Mr. Douglas is a very good writer and I look forward to checking out some of the other books he has written in the future. In the meantime, Confessions is one I would recommend. ( )